Whether it's good or bad depends on the teacher.

A fascinating subject.

Back in the day, during our secondary school years, we studied geography from middle school onwards. In high school, if the teacher was excellent, this subject was especially engaging.

Geographical knowledge not only helps students understand their own country but also provides an opportunity to learn about the world . In the past, global understanding wasn't as widespread as it is now, so students wanted to use geography as a way to connect with the world through school subjects.

I remember, back in sixth grade at the Southern School for Students, the geography teacher assigned a homework assignment related to world geography . Students had a week to complete it and submit it to the teacher for grading.

The assignment is very broad, giving students ample opportunity to imagine, acquire, and express their personal knowledge of world geography . The assignment asks: "Write about a trip by any means of transportation to different geographical regions of the world, and recount that trip."

Geography is especially engaging if the teacher is good at teaching.

Our students were free to imagine and integrate the world geography knowledge they had learned, expressing it in a style reminiscent of "backpacking" travel, much like how young people nowadays express themselves after their backpacking trips. And this was "backpacking around the world," of course, through imagination.

The teacher is a crucial factor.

In my opinion, the teacher's creativity in designing geography test questions makes this subject particularly engaging.

At Chu Van An High School ( Hanoi ), we studied geography with Mr. Suu. He was a geography teacher who had been teaching at Chu Van An High School since the time when Hanoi was temporarily occupied by the French colonialists. He had a very broad knowledge and taught the subject in a very engaging way. Throughout the geography lesson, Mr. Suu always developed the lesson with knowledge "outside the textbook," and this "supplementary" knowledge made us students extremely interested.

Textbook for the integrated natural science, history, and geography subject for 8th grade.

When teaching about the geography of the Americas, about Black slaves, and about the Mississippi River, Mr. Sửu sang a blues song in English for us students, a song about Black slaves pulling boats on the Mississippi River. The song was so beautiful and sad that generations of students who learned geography from Mr. Sửu have remembered this lesson almost for the rest of their lives.

Back then, we didn't study or know English, but the song that Mr. Suu sang for us still moves us deeply whenever we think about geography.

Therefore, textbooks are not everything; the teacher is what truly makes a subject engaging.

These geography lessons can be remembered by students for a lifetime. And who knows, among those students, there might be some who will later be inspired to delve deeper into geographical research or work in the tourism industry.

Therefore, integrating geography with history is unnecessary. Each subject has its own goals, its own knowledge, and its own potential to attract and engage students.

The important thing is how teachers and students approach the teaching and learning of these two subjects. If teachers teach well and students are inspired to learn about these two subjects, going beyond textbook knowledge, then the integration of knowledge for students will increase significantly.

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